Ad Hominem
Chapter 5-Errare Humanum Est (Still day III)
I sauntered into the common room and headed to the stairs. I walked past a chair that contained George and didn't look down at him. I lied down on my bed and pulled the hangings shut when I reached the dorm. Unsurprisingly, George entered the dorm a minute later.
"Fred?"
"What?"
"Were you with him?" I sighed angrily at him.
"You can't even say his name in contact with mine? George, I can't believe you're this pissed off over Malfoy! We're just talking. Look." I threw back the hangings and stood up to meet him face to face. "He hit me. There is nothing between us except a common preference." George's eyes darted to the bruise on my right cheek, and then his eyes found mine.
"He's strong enough to do that?" He asked while indicating to my bruise, which was turning a horrible combination of yellow, purple, green, blue, and black.
"Well, yeah, but he hurt his hand doing it. His knuckles looked like my face." I chuckled lightly and George smiled. He frowned a second later though.
"Looked? As in don't anymore?" He eyed me suspiciously.
"I healed them."
"You what? Why? You said there was nothing between you two!"
"Look, it was just safer that way. If anyone had seen my bruised face and his bruised knuckles and put the two together we would have had a problem. Now people will have no idea that we were ever together."
"What will you say when people ask you about it?"
"We'll say it was you, that we were just joking around and you slipped and hit harder than you meant to." I answered.
"Always the rational one Fred. But are you sure that was the only reason you helped him? No hidden desires or feelings?" I wanted to hit him, to wrestle him down, do something!
"How can you be like this? Are you jealous? What the hell. Malfoy will never replace you George! You're my twin, my other half, and nothing will come between us! Especially not another guy, I could never do that to you." George stared at me with a somber look, and it was the exact same look I was wearing.
"I'm sorry." He smiled slightly at me and gave a quick hug. "But I can't approve of anything involving you and a Malfoy." He turned on his heel and walked out of the dorm. Shit! I hit my bedpost and it shook angrily at me. This isn't fair! How can he make me choose? Why doesn't he understand that I need this? Wait...I need Malfoy? Yes. Yes I do. He's my only connection here with others like me dammit! That's more important than George will probably ever understand. I fell into a fitful sleep and woke in time for lunch. The entire room had been emptied except for Katie.
"Katie!"
"Hello Fred." She turned in her chair to look at me, and I saw that her face was covered in tears.
"Katie! What's wrong? Is everything all right with George?" She slowly shook her head and burst into sobs. This is low! How could George have hurt her like this? "Katie, oh god, what did he do?" She took a few deep breaths and tried to speak.
"Fight. We had-he said-that he didn't care, about me-all he talked about-was you." Each break in her speech was filled with sobs, but the last words came through loud and clear as she stared up at me. She wasn't angry with me, thank god, she was smarter than that.
"What did he say about me?"
"Said that you-that you were spending t-time with an evil-evil person and that-that something had to be done. He-he wouldn't stay-wouldn't stay with me, went out in a hurry-very, very angry." She looked up at me, taking in my face for the first time. "Did he hit you?" I looked away. "Fred, what is he going to do?" My eyes widened in horror as I put together what George had said. Malfoy. Shit, George could kill him! I pulled Katie up and hugged her.
"Go get something to eat or you'll feel even worse. I've got to go after him. He didn't mean what he said, he's just very angry with me." She nodded and sat back down. Or don't get something to eat. I ran out of the common room towards the great hall.
"This could even be a suspension Weasley! Unfortunately the decision is not mine, but I doubt Professor McGonigal will be more sympathetic. You nearly killed him! What were you thinking?" Snape's voice was coming from outside the great hall, right in front of the doors. He was as angry at George as he had been at Malfoy during detention. Malfoy. Shit, where is he? I peeked around the corner and saw a slightly beaten and bloody George. At least Malfoy had gotten some hits in anyway. But whose blood? George didn't look cut anywhere that I could see, and his nose wasn't bleeding. Damn. There's blood on his knuckles. I took a deep breath and tore off towards the hospital wing.
"What the?" The door was being shut back against my fingers as I tried to open it.
"I'm sorry, you can't come in right now Mr. Weasley, the patient in my care is badly wounded and does not need any more from you!"
"Madam Pomfrey! It's Fred! Not George! I don't want to hurt him! I swear! Please let me in! Ask him if you want." There was silence, and then the click of the door.
"He's in no state to answer or even hear questions Mr. Weasley. Please don't bother him. I shouldn't even allow you in here, but I don't think you've come to hurt him." I smiled and she went to her office, leaving us alone. I walked slowly towards the only occupied bed in the wing. My breath caught in my throat as I got close enough to see the extent of his condition. His eyes were both swollen shut, and his nose was broken. There were bruises covering his face and his hair was tinted pink from blood. There was a bandage covering his head, and his fingers were broken. He wore no shirt so that she could bandage him. There was a bandage across his shoulder that came down around his upper chest and was tied under his arm. His ribs were bandaged and his arms were a mass of bruises. He was breathing very slowly and his chest was barely rising. I walked to Madam Pomfrey's door and knocked.
"Madam Pomfrey?" She opened the door.
"Yes?"
"Has anyone come to visit him?"
"No Mr. Weasley, you're the first visitor Mr. Malfoy has had, but he hasn't been here for very long. I imagine when lunch is finished his friends will be here to see him."
"I think I'll stay with him until then, if that's alright with you?"
"Fine. Just please don't disturb him. I've given him all the necessary potions and tended his wounds as much as possible, but he just needs to rest and let the magics take effect. He has a lot of bleeding, external and internal, so he needs to replenish. If he wakes up and asks for anything please let me know, unless you can find it yourself." She eyed me suspiciously. "I don't want to know why you're here for him, but I'm glad you are." She turned and headed back to her office.
"Madam Pomfrey!" She stopped and turned back to me. "Um, did you give him anything for the pain?" She frowned at me.
"You know my policy regarding fighting Mr. Weasley."
"But, I don't think he did much fighting, look at him! It would seem more like he just got beat into a bloody pulp, because, oh wait! He did! I've seen his attacker, he's barely hurt at all! Malfoy barely defended himself! Please just give him a little something." She frowned, but looked sympathetic nonetheless.
"I wish I could help you, but your brother received nothing for the pain and neither shall Mr. Malfoy. If you're so concerned...you can be his comfort." She slammed her door without another word, leaving me gawking at wood and iron.
"I don't-!" Oh why bother. She slammed the door a little louder than was wise, but luckily she didn't wake her patient. I went and sat next to his bed. I watched him sleep, and made sure his breathing was regular. It looked like every breath pained him, which it probably did. I can't believe George did this to him, because of me. I hung my head in my hands. How could I have been so stupid? There was a cough from Malfoy and my head flew up to look at him. He looked even worse awake. He coughed a couple more times, and some of it was blood. He turned to me after he had finished coughing.
"Fred." His voice was shaky and broken, it was frightening.
"Sh. Please don't talk. You sound like death." He coughed some more blood and I looked away.
"Why are you here?" I could hear something rattle inside him when he moved and spoke, and I could see that he was trying to lick his lips to talk.
"You don't have to talk! Please! This is all my fault. Just let me explain and you won't have to say anything. And don't move. Can I get you anything?" He turned to me, looked up at me, and tried to smile.
"Water." I sprang from my chair and got him a glass of water. I brought it back and he tried to sit up.
"No! Lay back, I'll help you." I helped him drink the water and stood by as he choked and sputtered on it. His throat was clearly swollen along with everything else.
"I guess I look pretty bad huh?"
"I told you to stop talking! You'll make it worse. Just let me talk. After I left you I went to my dorm to lie down. George came in and we fought, and he said he was sorry, but he couldn't approve of me having contact with you. He left, and I slept for awhile. I woke up and everyone had gone to lunch, except Katie, George's girlfriend. She was crying in the common room. George had yelled at her, had talked about me, and left really angry. I realized what he meant to do and ran out to find him, or you. I was too late, and found Snape yelling at George in the Great Hall. They said he had nearly killed you, and I came here. I feel horrible. God, when I saw you-I don't think I'll every forgive myself." He was leaning back with his eyes closed, but I don't know how well he could really see with them open anyway.
"Did you do this to me?"
"No! Of course not! I would never-"
"-Then don't be sorry. I don't want your pity Fred. I can't believe you're even here."
"Of course I'm here. This is my fault, even if not directly. Nothing you say will make me feel any better about this, so don't bother."
"I got a couple hits on your simian brother-did you see?" I smiled.
"Yeah, I saw. He was covered in your blood though, so it still looked like he did most of the fighting." He tried to lift his right arm, the one next to me, and cried out from the pain. "Oh god. I'm sorry, I tried to get you something for the pain, but she refused."
"It's okay." His breathing was slightly faster than before from the pain. "Fred?"
"Yeah?" I asked eagerly.
"Heal me."
"Draco, I don't...I can't. This is way beyond me. Madam Pomfrey did all she could, she said that you lost a lot of blood and need to rest, heal, and let the magic work." I looked down at the arm he had tried to lift. "What were you trying to do?" I asked.
"Pardon? Oh. Nothing, don't worry about it." He had that tone of 'leave it alone', but I wasn't going to.
"Tell me Malfoy."
"So we've gone backwards? Draco back to Malfoy?" He tried to laugh, but his body wouldn't let him. He lurched forward in what looked like a very painful manner.
"Shh, Draco, sit back. You shouldn't be doing that." He nodded slightly as he sat back. I looked over his broken form and rested my eyes on his legs. "Did he hurt your legs?"
"I think he kicked me a couple times after I lost consciousness, but that could be the broken ribs." I lifted my hand to his face, and lightly brushed his bruised cheek. He didn't pull away in pain or revulsion, and I took that as a good sign. I moved my hand to the arm he had tried to lift and gently slid my hand under his. I didn't grip it because the fingers were broken, but he tried to lightly squeeze my hand.
"This was it right?" I asked softly.
"Yes." He whispered. We sat in silence for what seemed an eternity. I couldn't stand seeing this pain caused by my own blood, my kin! I suddenly had a burning rage against George as I watched Malfoy's irregular breathing and his marred chest rise and fall slowly and shakily. I heard a crowd in the hallway; apparently lunch had been over for some time, and they were headed to dinner judging from what I overheard. I hated to wake him but wondered if he was hungry. I decided against it and listened to my own stomach growl. He probably couldn't eat anyway. No one had come to see him, no one had even slowed down as they passed the door. I couldn't bring myself to leave him. At least it's the weekend so I don't have any classes to worry about. A small whimper sounded from Malfoy. I can't believe I'm calling him Draco, but he is calling me Fred, and he complained when I called him Malfoy. My head flew to his face as he made another whimper, and he seemed to be in pain, or rather, scared. He was dreaming, or more accurately, having a nightmare. He was starting to jerk and whimper more loudly and I decided to wake him.
"Draco, Draco wake up." I gently ran my free hand over his face to rouse him; he was still holding my right hand. He jerked away and turned to me.
"Fred! Oh god, I dreamt, I dreamt that they captured my father and he was in Azkaban. They...they did the kiss..."
"Shh, it's okay. Go back to sleep. I'll wake you if you start another nightmare okay? I promise."
"Don't stay with me." He rasped.
"What?"
"Don't. I think you should go to dinner. People will...you can't stay here. Go!"
"Draco...I don't-"
"I don't want you here dammit!" He released his grip on my hand and slid his away as much as he could. I looked down at him, hurt and offended, but I didn't want to be. Why did I let him get to me like this? I stood up and he turned his head away from me. I left and went to dinner.
Errare Humanum Est-To Err is Human
Chapter 5-Errare Humanum Est (Still day III)
I sauntered into the common room and headed to the stairs. I walked past a chair that contained George and didn't look down at him. I lied down on my bed and pulled the hangings shut when I reached the dorm. Unsurprisingly, George entered the dorm a minute later.
"Fred?"
"What?"
"Were you with him?" I sighed angrily at him.
"You can't even say his name in contact with mine? George, I can't believe you're this pissed off over Malfoy! We're just talking. Look." I threw back the hangings and stood up to meet him face to face. "He hit me. There is nothing between us except a common preference." George's eyes darted to the bruise on my right cheek, and then his eyes found mine.
"He's strong enough to do that?" He asked while indicating to my bruise, which was turning a horrible combination of yellow, purple, green, blue, and black.
"Well, yeah, but he hurt his hand doing it. His knuckles looked like my face." I chuckled lightly and George smiled. He frowned a second later though.
"Looked? As in don't anymore?" He eyed me suspiciously.
"I healed them."
"You what? Why? You said there was nothing between you two!"
"Look, it was just safer that way. If anyone had seen my bruised face and his bruised knuckles and put the two together we would have had a problem. Now people will have no idea that we were ever together."
"What will you say when people ask you about it?"
"We'll say it was you, that we were just joking around and you slipped and hit harder than you meant to." I answered.
"Always the rational one Fred. But are you sure that was the only reason you helped him? No hidden desires or feelings?" I wanted to hit him, to wrestle him down, do something!
"How can you be like this? Are you jealous? What the hell. Malfoy will never replace you George! You're my twin, my other half, and nothing will come between us! Especially not another guy, I could never do that to you." George stared at me with a somber look, and it was the exact same look I was wearing.
"I'm sorry." He smiled slightly at me and gave a quick hug. "But I can't approve of anything involving you and a Malfoy." He turned on his heel and walked out of the dorm. Shit! I hit my bedpost and it shook angrily at me. This isn't fair! How can he make me choose? Why doesn't he understand that I need this? Wait...I need Malfoy? Yes. Yes I do. He's my only connection here with others like me dammit! That's more important than George will probably ever understand. I fell into a fitful sleep and woke in time for lunch. The entire room had been emptied except for Katie.
"Katie!"
"Hello Fred." She turned in her chair to look at me, and I saw that her face was covered in tears.
"Katie! What's wrong? Is everything all right with George?" She slowly shook her head and burst into sobs. This is low! How could George have hurt her like this? "Katie, oh god, what did he do?" She took a few deep breaths and tried to speak.
"Fight. We had-he said-that he didn't care, about me-all he talked about-was you." Each break in her speech was filled with sobs, but the last words came through loud and clear as she stared up at me. She wasn't angry with me, thank god, she was smarter than that.
"What did he say about me?"
"Said that you-that you were spending t-time with an evil-evil person and that-that something had to be done. He-he wouldn't stay-wouldn't stay with me, went out in a hurry-very, very angry." She looked up at me, taking in my face for the first time. "Did he hit you?" I looked away. "Fred, what is he going to do?" My eyes widened in horror as I put together what George had said. Malfoy. Shit, George could kill him! I pulled Katie up and hugged her.
"Go get something to eat or you'll feel even worse. I've got to go after him. He didn't mean what he said, he's just very angry with me." She nodded and sat back down. Or don't get something to eat. I ran out of the common room towards the great hall.
"This could even be a suspension Weasley! Unfortunately the decision is not mine, but I doubt Professor McGonigal will be more sympathetic. You nearly killed him! What were you thinking?" Snape's voice was coming from outside the great hall, right in front of the doors. He was as angry at George as he had been at Malfoy during detention. Malfoy. Shit, where is he? I peeked around the corner and saw a slightly beaten and bloody George. At least Malfoy had gotten some hits in anyway. But whose blood? George didn't look cut anywhere that I could see, and his nose wasn't bleeding. Damn. There's blood on his knuckles. I took a deep breath and tore off towards the hospital wing.
"What the?" The door was being shut back against my fingers as I tried to open it.
"I'm sorry, you can't come in right now Mr. Weasley, the patient in my care is badly wounded and does not need any more from you!"
"Madam Pomfrey! It's Fred! Not George! I don't want to hurt him! I swear! Please let me in! Ask him if you want." There was silence, and then the click of the door.
"He's in no state to answer or even hear questions Mr. Weasley. Please don't bother him. I shouldn't even allow you in here, but I don't think you've come to hurt him." I smiled and she went to her office, leaving us alone. I walked slowly towards the only occupied bed in the wing. My breath caught in my throat as I got close enough to see the extent of his condition. His eyes were both swollen shut, and his nose was broken. There were bruises covering his face and his hair was tinted pink from blood. There was a bandage covering his head, and his fingers were broken. He wore no shirt so that she could bandage him. There was a bandage across his shoulder that came down around his upper chest and was tied under his arm. His ribs were bandaged and his arms were a mass of bruises. He was breathing very slowly and his chest was barely rising. I walked to Madam Pomfrey's door and knocked.
"Madam Pomfrey?" She opened the door.
"Yes?"
"Has anyone come to visit him?"
"No Mr. Weasley, you're the first visitor Mr. Malfoy has had, but he hasn't been here for very long. I imagine when lunch is finished his friends will be here to see him."
"I think I'll stay with him until then, if that's alright with you?"
"Fine. Just please don't disturb him. I've given him all the necessary potions and tended his wounds as much as possible, but he just needs to rest and let the magics take effect. He has a lot of bleeding, external and internal, so he needs to replenish. If he wakes up and asks for anything please let me know, unless you can find it yourself." She eyed me suspiciously. "I don't want to know why you're here for him, but I'm glad you are." She turned and headed back to her office.
"Madam Pomfrey!" She stopped and turned back to me. "Um, did you give him anything for the pain?" She frowned at me.
"You know my policy regarding fighting Mr. Weasley."
"But, I don't think he did much fighting, look at him! It would seem more like he just got beat into a bloody pulp, because, oh wait! He did! I've seen his attacker, he's barely hurt at all! Malfoy barely defended himself! Please just give him a little something." She frowned, but looked sympathetic nonetheless.
"I wish I could help you, but your brother received nothing for the pain and neither shall Mr. Malfoy. If you're so concerned...you can be his comfort." She slammed her door without another word, leaving me gawking at wood and iron.
"I don't-!" Oh why bother. She slammed the door a little louder than was wise, but luckily she didn't wake her patient. I went and sat next to his bed. I watched him sleep, and made sure his breathing was regular. It looked like every breath pained him, which it probably did. I can't believe George did this to him, because of me. I hung my head in my hands. How could I have been so stupid? There was a cough from Malfoy and my head flew up to look at him. He looked even worse awake. He coughed a couple more times, and some of it was blood. He turned to me after he had finished coughing.
"Fred." His voice was shaky and broken, it was frightening.
"Sh. Please don't talk. You sound like death." He coughed some more blood and I looked away.
"Why are you here?" I could hear something rattle inside him when he moved and spoke, and I could see that he was trying to lick his lips to talk.
"You don't have to talk! Please! This is all my fault. Just let me explain and you won't have to say anything. And don't move. Can I get you anything?" He turned to me, looked up at me, and tried to smile.
"Water." I sprang from my chair and got him a glass of water. I brought it back and he tried to sit up.
"No! Lay back, I'll help you." I helped him drink the water and stood by as he choked and sputtered on it. His throat was clearly swollen along with everything else.
"I guess I look pretty bad huh?"
"I told you to stop talking! You'll make it worse. Just let me talk. After I left you I went to my dorm to lie down. George came in and we fought, and he said he was sorry, but he couldn't approve of me having contact with you. He left, and I slept for awhile. I woke up and everyone had gone to lunch, except Katie, George's girlfriend. She was crying in the common room. George had yelled at her, had talked about me, and left really angry. I realized what he meant to do and ran out to find him, or you. I was too late, and found Snape yelling at George in the Great Hall. They said he had nearly killed you, and I came here. I feel horrible. God, when I saw you-I don't think I'll every forgive myself." He was leaning back with his eyes closed, but I don't know how well he could really see with them open anyway.
"Did you do this to me?"
"No! Of course not! I would never-"
"-Then don't be sorry. I don't want your pity Fred. I can't believe you're even here."
"Of course I'm here. This is my fault, even if not directly. Nothing you say will make me feel any better about this, so don't bother."
"I got a couple hits on your simian brother-did you see?" I smiled.
"Yeah, I saw. He was covered in your blood though, so it still looked like he did most of the fighting." He tried to lift his right arm, the one next to me, and cried out from the pain. "Oh god. I'm sorry, I tried to get you something for the pain, but she refused."
"It's okay." His breathing was slightly faster than before from the pain. "Fred?"
"Yeah?" I asked eagerly.
"Heal me."
"Draco, I don't...I can't. This is way beyond me. Madam Pomfrey did all she could, she said that you lost a lot of blood and need to rest, heal, and let the magic work." I looked down at the arm he had tried to lift. "What were you trying to do?" I asked.
"Pardon? Oh. Nothing, don't worry about it." He had that tone of 'leave it alone', but I wasn't going to.
"Tell me Malfoy."
"So we've gone backwards? Draco back to Malfoy?" He tried to laugh, but his body wouldn't let him. He lurched forward in what looked like a very painful manner.
"Shh, Draco, sit back. You shouldn't be doing that." He nodded slightly as he sat back. I looked over his broken form and rested my eyes on his legs. "Did he hurt your legs?"
"I think he kicked me a couple times after I lost consciousness, but that could be the broken ribs." I lifted my hand to his face, and lightly brushed his bruised cheek. He didn't pull away in pain or revulsion, and I took that as a good sign. I moved my hand to the arm he had tried to lift and gently slid my hand under his. I didn't grip it because the fingers were broken, but he tried to lightly squeeze my hand.
"This was it right?" I asked softly.
"Yes." He whispered. We sat in silence for what seemed an eternity. I couldn't stand seeing this pain caused by my own blood, my kin! I suddenly had a burning rage against George as I watched Malfoy's irregular breathing and his marred chest rise and fall slowly and shakily. I heard a crowd in the hallway; apparently lunch had been over for some time, and they were headed to dinner judging from what I overheard. I hated to wake him but wondered if he was hungry. I decided against it and listened to my own stomach growl. He probably couldn't eat anyway. No one had come to see him, no one had even slowed down as they passed the door. I couldn't bring myself to leave him. At least it's the weekend so I don't have any classes to worry about. A small whimper sounded from Malfoy. I can't believe I'm calling him Draco, but he is calling me Fred, and he complained when I called him Malfoy. My head flew to his face as he made another whimper, and he seemed to be in pain, or rather, scared. He was dreaming, or more accurately, having a nightmare. He was starting to jerk and whimper more loudly and I decided to wake him.
"Draco, Draco wake up." I gently ran my free hand over his face to rouse him; he was still holding my right hand. He jerked away and turned to me.
"Fred! Oh god, I dreamt, I dreamt that they captured my father and he was in Azkaban. They...they did the kiss..."
"Shh, it's okay. Go back to sleep. I'll wake you if you start another nightmare okay? I promise."
"Don't stay with me." He rasped.
"What?"
"Don't. I think you should go to dinner. People will...you can't stay here. Go!"
"Draco...I don't-"
"I don't want you here dammit!" He released his grip on my hand and slid his away as much as he could. I looked down at him, hurt and offended, but I didn't want to be. Why did I let him get to me like this? I stood up and he turned his head away from me. I left and went to dinner.
Errare Humanum Est-To Err is Human